Music Trade Review

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February 20 th, 1882. T H E MUSICAL CRITIC AND T R A D E R E V I E W . - S u p p l e m e n t ,
rather clumsily gives us to understand that it bore >nd good fellowship ends in editorial gush and gout.
no fruits. This is incorrect, to say the least. It But he has not. His confessions are barren of those
bore live fruits, as Mr. John C. Freund's executors hings which he ought to have told. He appears
UNFINISHED CONFESSIONS OF A MUSICAL may learn by writing to California, or to Mr. Steele o know no more of the dark side of the profession
Mackaye. The whole of that romantic episode in han he knows of the hat and cap trade or the Del-
JOURNALIST.
Union Square is carefully omitted from the con- arte system, and therefore his confessions have
fessions. This is to be regretted, because it is a alien very flat, except to Mr. Mackaye and Wil-
INTERESTING READING FOR JOHN C. F R
D (Oxen)
eautiful and touching story, and ought to be em- am Humphreys and Mr. Steinway.—Dramatic
IN THE NEW YOKK " DRAMATIC TIMES "—A
balmed in Oxford literature, along with the idyl
FEW POINTS ON THE DELSARTE SYSTEM,
THE SOB-COTERIE, AND THE PIANO-
of Paul and Virginia. No one that lived at the
FOKTE
RACQUET.
;ime could have told the charming story of Ida
ohnson with the same pathos as Mr. John C.
S a rule, we do not give up a great deal of 'reund, Oxen, unless, perhaps, it was William
space to literary reviews. A dramatic and Humphreys or Ida Johnson herself. Why that in- ' I ^HERE is absolutely BO cessation in the num-
1. ber of musical performances at this truly mu-
musical paper should deal only with that form of tensely interesting feature of the Delsarte system sical centre.
literature which relates in some way to music and s left out we cannot understand. Mr. John C. One cannot hear everything that is being per-
the drama; and dramatic and musical literature, Freund's executors owe it to his memory to restore brmed here, because he cannot be in two or more
outside of plays and the essays that Mr. Theodore that one manly episode in his eventful career. jlaces at one and the same time. On some evenings
are half a dozen musical performances in pro-
Thomas occasionly writes for Scribner, is lament- Modesty may be a virtue in a living musical editor, there
gress, and generally each and every one is attended
ably scarce in this country. When, however, a but justice is certainly a merit in his posthumous y large audiences.
publication appears which attempts to deal with onfessions.
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA.
the professional events and people of our time, it
The sixteenth concert of the season by this or-
There are other serious omissions in this work.
challenges thoughtful review. Such may be said Not a word has been said about the sudden death ganization filled Music Hall in every nook and cor-
to be the case with the Memoirs of Mr. John C. of Mr. John C. Freund, Oxen. The brilliant char- er on February 11. The programme was varied
Freund, which have recently been put before the acter of that demise must linger yet in the mem- and highly interesting. It comprised the follow-
compositions:
public. Some little interest must have been felt ory of piano-makers. Not a reference is made to ing "Coriolanus
Overture," Beethoven; "Rhapsody
among the large class of piano manufacturers, the extraordinary descent of this wonderful man for contralto, male chorus, and orchestra" (soloist,
printers, paper makers, organ builders and others rom the pinnacle of {esthetic beauty in Union Miss Mary H. How), Brahms; "Unfinished Sym-
in this work, for no man, not excepting Greenville Square to the ditch of absolute wretchedness in phony" (B minor), Schubert; "Introduction to
3, Meistersinger," Wagner; "La Captive," con-
Murray, was so competent to clear up a number Kansas City. Not a single one of the brilliant Act
tralto, Berlioz, and two numbers from Leo Delibes,
of niysterieB which for several years had been the etters that he wrote from that city to Mr. Steele Sylvia ballet music.
theme of speculation in the cafes and clubs.
Mr. Georg Henschel, the conductor, has little
Mackaye has been preserved.
Mr. John 0. Freund's extraordinary ability was That is to say, has not been preserved in the notions of his own in regard to the disposition of
orchestra, and like all original characters who
attested by the best authority. The Messrs. Stein- confessions. This is a fatal omission. Mr. John the
have little notions of their own, he finds a great
way, the late Albert Weber, Mr. Tretbar, Wm. C. Freund, before he passed away, had it in his deal of opposition to what might aptly be called,
Humphreys, Steele Mackaye, and other eminent power to point a moral, as well as to adorn a tale. his scheme.
men spoke of his sharpness, his profundity, his He could have done a great deal of good had he The matter received some attention in THE MU-
CRITIC AND TRADE REVIEW some time ago.
appetite, and his aesthetic taste with bated breath. hosen to explain to the thousands of innocent SICAL
Mr. Henschel, as we stated then, found some of
The record of the personal experiences of such a girls who bring their money and their talents to the most competent judges here opposed to his
man could not help attracting attention. It could the great city to equip themselves for the stage, method, and it appears that these judges adhere to
not help disposing of a great many ugly and malig- how many hidden dangers lurk in their path, how their ideas with the same resolution as Mr. Henschel
nant stories which had grown upon the memory many sharpers and swindlers, disguised in jour- manifests in his direction.
No better evidence could possibly have been de-
of the great and good Mr. John C. Freund, very nalistic propriety and buttressed with bric-a-brac, sired to pj-ove the mistake that Mr. Henschel is
much as fungi grows upon the grave of a genius. lead them on, step by step, and having first robbed making, in destroying the homogenity of instru-
Musical journalism in New York is in itself such them, ruin them, and fling them back penni- mental color with his process, than in Brahms'
a paralyzing mystery to the ordinary healthy man, less and friendless into the cold whirlpool of the Rhapsody," and especially in Wagner's "Meister-
singer" selections that were performed.
that Mr. John C. Freund's revelations were ex- metropolis. Mr. John C. Freund, Oxen, must The instruments are distributed all over the
pected to be as naive as the confessions of Rous- have known the pitiful story of one weak, white- stage, as it were. Every attempt to catch form or
seau, as fearless as Jo. Howard's letters to th« faced girl, who came out of a Western home, with figure in these highly developed instrumental
Philadelphia Times, and as interesting as the dying a few thousand dollars, to equip herself for the works, becomes a complete failure.
Brahms is obscure and hidden in his forms, yet
speech of a condemned culprit.
a musical student can detect the significance of
battle of life.
It is with much reluctance that we express our
the raphsody when the orchestra is arranged in the
great disappointment at "The Confessions." They Why did not Mr. John C. Freund, Oxen, tell it traditional mauner, when subject and counter-sub-
are cast from one set of instruments to another,
are in no sense satisfying in their revelations; and in his confessions? If there was a wrong done ject
and so on.
in their rhetoric far more characteristic of the emi- why did not this Oxford champion right it? He Accoi'ding to Mr. Henschel's method, the whole
nent Mr. Stephen Fiske, author of the "Passing could at least have exposed it. We have a right work became an olla podridn of figures.
Show," than of the profound Mr. John C. Freund, to demand of the man who makes ostentatious We cannot accuse Brahms, nor Henschel's lead-
Oxen, We had hoped, nay, we had confidently ex- confessions that he confess the things in which we ing, nor the performers, for this, but simply the
manner of distributing the instruments on the
pected, that before Mr. John C. Freund, Oxen, are interested. His great heart must have swollen stage.
had passed away he would have let us into the se- many a time when he heard that story. He must
The Wagner selection required about double the
cret of working the piano men. There is no ap- have known that the poor little womaa had no number of strings to countei'balance the brass.
In this composition the defects were equally if
parent reason why a really penitent man should defender; that when her money was all gone, her
not more forcibly demonstrated. Yet it is by this
not have told us how he manipulated Mr. William responsibility doubled, and that henceforth she time
entirely too late to hope for a remedy.
Steinway. There is something extremely shiftless must walk her solitary path in poverty and shame,
The
idea has become a permanent fact, the cli-
in leaving that to Mr. William Steinway. There carrying an extra load. But he kept his lips enteUe seems to be satisfied, and everybody is
sealed.
It
seems
to
us
that
this
is
a
false
sense
o
pleased, and Mr. Henschel alone hears the best part
is no reason why a man with so large a sense of
of every concert, and next season the same thing
humor as Mr. John C. Freund, Oxen, should delicacy. Mr. John C. Freund ought to have ex will
be repeated.
not have revelled in an explanation of how he posed the villain ruthlessly.
Miss Mary H. How, the vocalist, possesses a
flopped over to Mr. Hale and sold Mr. Steinway There is another point upon which this eminent firm, sympathetic contralto voice.
Her vocalization is not as finished as might be,
out. Fairness at least, it seems to us, should have man of the past might have shed a great deal of il
prompted him to give Mr. Steinway's and Mr. lumination. We refer to the demi-literary and mu and the phrasing of the Brahms solo passages was
not distinct and definite.
Tretbar's statements, and not leave them for some sical rings of the city. He might have given us a In the upper register, the intonation is not pure.
body else to give.
most sparkling account of that sub-coterie, whos< These defects can, however, be easily remedied,
It is excessively annoying to find that these chief gets up "The Passing Show" with one hand provided they are discovered in time, and if so,
is no question that Miss How will become a
things are all omitted from the confessions. They and persecutes Mr. Townsend Percy with the other there
welcome figure on the concert stage.
whose
Paphian
Venus
mingles
literature
and
late
would have had an incalculable moral value toth
The programme for February 18th was Beetho-
community, and other men from Oxford who should suppers loudly and largely, and whose Sir Oracle ven's Leonore Overture, No. 1; the same Rhapsody
attempt in the future to found musical papers here is the debris of what was once Oakey Hall. Mr. by Brahms, sung by Miss How again; Beethoven's
Symphony; Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto,
on the basis of piano and organ manufacture John C. Freund, Oxen, who kept these people in Eighth
by
Mr.
Alfred de Seve, and Massenet's Overture,
might have used the book as a chart, in which all hash at a time when confiding piano men were nu "Phedre."
merous,
ought
to
have
confessed
about
them.
the rocks would be carefully marked.
HARVARD SYMPHONY CONCERT.
Mr. John C. Freund's romantic connection with He should have let his penitential ray into th
The third concert of the Harvard Musical Asso-
the Delsarte system is carefully left untold.
orgies where actresses are baited with paragraph ciation took place at the Boston Museum on Feb-
CIRCUMAMBIENT LYING."
MUSIC IN BOSTON.
A